AGENT TECHNOLOGY

Facebook unveils first ad product for real estate

A brokerage can now target past visitors to its site and present them with relevantFacebook ads

BY TEKE WIGGIN !

TODAY 9:00 A.M.

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Facebook has unveiled its first ad product designed specifically for the real estate industry.

“Dynamic Ads for Real Estate” allows a brokerage to advertise relevant listings to Facebook and Instagram users who have

previously searched for properties on the brokerage’s website.

With a Facebook employee telling Inman that the online giant is “betting big” on the industry, it could be the first of many

real estate-related projects for the social network that recently hit 2 billion monthly users.

The new ad product mimics the type of advertising that Amazon excels at: promoting goods related to what a consumer

has already purchased or looked at on the internet (like the abandoned contents of your online shopping cart) — and in this

case, for-sale properties, said Facebook’s Keith Watts, who oversees projects covering the real estate and financial

services industries.

The ad product requires integration between Facebook’s ad platform and the brokerage advertiser’s listing data and

search system.

Facebook will glean a prospective buyer’s property search preferences by looking at their search activity on the

brokerage’s site.

Then it will automatically select listings from the brokerage’s inventory that fit the buyer’s search preferences and present

those listings in the buyer’s Facebook or Instagram feed in a slideshow format.

The product works best for brokerages with 100 listings or more.

“For the folks that can have that mount of volume, we think it’s going to work really well, and once it’s set up, it’s pretty

much automatic, you don’t have to spend a lot of manpower to keep the system up and running,” Watts said.

Dynamic Ads for Real Estate is also a natural fit for listing portals.

Apartment Guide and Recruit Sumai Company, the operator of a Japanese listing portal, both reported positive results from

their tests of the product, according to Facebook.

Zillow Group announced a partnership with Facebook last year under which agents could push ads to Facebook users that

drive them to custom agent or property pages on Zillow or Trulia.

It was described as the first of “many, many, many ad products” that Zillow

Group would introduce in partnership with Facebook, Zillow Group Chief

Business Officer Greg Schwartz said in a statement.

Watts declined to say if Zillow Group is using Dynamic Ads for Real Estate.

(Zillow Group didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Competition for the eyeballs and clicks of prospective homebuyers and

sellers on Facebook has grown in recent years, and the cost of real estate-

related ads on the site has predictably risen, many agents say.

But, they add, Facebook ads can still produce an impressive return on

investment (ROI) for real estate brokerages and agents if designed and

deployed properly.

Facebook built Dynamic Ads for Real Estate to simplify and improve on

what had already been a winning strategy for some brokerage advertisers:

“retargeting” ads of listings at Facebook users who had already visited

their site.

“We saw that, and we thought, if we actually built this into a product and made some tweaks,” the product could pay off for

advertisers, Watts said.

“Real estate is an area we’re betting big on as a company,” he added. “We think its content that consumers want to see.”

So don’t be surprised if the Facebook delves deeper into real estate.

“I think there’s a lot of ways that we can help the industry in general,” Watts said.

Email Teke Wiggin.

Keith Watts

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COMMENTS

7 Comments Sort by

David TalThis is awesome Teke! And great move by Facebook to make this easier for agents.

Like · Reply · 1 · 2 hrs

Luke Amoresano · Broker/Owner/Realtor at Broker ModelIs this now presented as a choice when starting a campaign? Where do you select this option?Like · Reply · 2 hrs

Maurince Pierre · Realtor at Premium Properties Real Estate Services - Orlando, FLHow is it that Zillow and trulia is able to setup partnerships with Facebook and Realtor.com is so far behind.... It's time thatrealtor.com quits playing catchup and start leading the way or be left behind..

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Which real estate brands are consumers most satisfied with?

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Like · Reply · 4 · 2 hrs

Greg Watkins · Founder at NetStarHomesBravo Maurice...Let's add our own presitgious NAR, State Associations and local boards to the list of organizations wholack innovation and have failed to take a lead role within their own industry...

IM Pei had a great quote for these groups: "Stop worrying about missed opportunities and start looking for new ones".Hope this isn't a pipe dream...Like · Reply · 34 mins

Raphael Bochner · Founder at SweepBrightLooking forward, we are strong believers in the power of social to "expand" the listings' reach beyond property classifieds !Like · Reply · 1 hr

CincyHaus at Remax Elite / Kyle BennettThis really isnt new... maybe just an easier way than setting up multiple pixels and tracking codes on numerous web pages.Like · Reply · 57 mins

Leslie DeLucaWhat does this mean for smaller brokerages that don't have 100 or more listings? how can we use it? it is a great product.Like · Reply · 48 mins

Rafael Encarnacion · Sales Representative at Kerry Medaris, Exit Advantage Realtyour planet is starting to get smaller and smaller as facebook tries to fit everything down to the size of our mobile phone andcomputer screens.Like · Reply · 21 mins

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